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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: coach · game · wind · cold · last · land · firm · hand

  1. Have you met the new head ________________?
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  21. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. coach — a trainer
  2. cold — an illness
  3. wind — moving air
  4. cold — not warm
  5. firm — a company
  6. game — a match
  7. land — to come down
  8. wind — moving air
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. last — final
  11. hand — in cards
  12. firm — decided
  13. last — to go on
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. last — finally
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. land — a country
  19. land — ground
  20. firm — steady
  21. coach — pulled by horses
  22. hand — help
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. game — wild animals

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com